In early 1937, Maeda became the adjutant to Rear Admiral Sonosuke Kobayashi during his visit to England to represent Japan in the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

[4] In October that year, he went to Batavia in a diplomatic mission attempting to secure trade between the Dutch East Indies and Japan – particularly in oil.

In addition to trade negotiations, he was also tasked with espionage and establishing a fifth column, supported by civilians such as Shigetada Nishijima.

[1] In October 1944, following a declaration by Japanese Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso promising Indonesian independence, Maeda sponsored a school known as Asrama Indonesia Merdeka.

[8] Fearing intervention from the still-present Japanese Army, Maeda pushed for a declaration of independence, wanting an orderly sovereignty transfer.

Maeda also assisted with allowing the Naval Office press to be used to print copies of the proclamation text, which was distributed across Jakarta.

[5] Prior to this, Maeda (and Nishijima) had also been involved with Indonesian crude oil exports through Permina (later merged to form Pertamina), and participated in a joint venture with a PKI-controlled company.

[17] British historian Benedict Anderson proposed that Maeda and other Japanese collaborators had viewed the cooperation as beneficial to long-term relations between Indonesia and Japan.